How to Plan your BFCM Content

Getting your subscribers’ attention over Black Friday & Cyber Monday (BFCM) is hard. Really hard.
If you look at the conversion rate of emails sent over BFCM, it’s a lowly 0.14%. While revenue per email recipient is 4x higher on an average day than for Black Friday, Cyber Monday emails.

Crafting emails that convert is an equal blend of the right timing, precise targeting, and compelling content.

Let’s take a look at how you can make sure you’re sending the best content over the most important ecommerce weekend of the year.

Craft the right segments to get your content seen

Before you start to map a plan for the content that you’ll send out for BFCM, it’s critical that you understand precisely who you are targeting.

Building segments based on buyer behavior and data points is a great way to make sure the content you send over BFCM gets seen. I recommend thinking about these different segments that likely exist within your master list:

Seasonal Shoppers Shoppers from last BFCM. Email list by creating a segment with defined dates of purchasing.

Recent Openers. These subscribers have opened an email from you in the last 30 days.

VIP Customers. Have spent a specific dollar amount or purchased a certain amount of times.

Product Browsers. Browse abandonment emails can reach visitors who have looked at items on your site and then left without purchasing. Send to this segment as either a campaign or just set it up as an automated email.

Category Buyers. Send subscribers a campaign that features related products, or the newest products in a line.

Hasn’t Purchased (but Is Engaged). This segment has checked out your site but for some reason hasn’t purchased. You want to make it clear that no matter how many other emails they get from you this is the one with the best deals of the year.

Content for BFCM campaigns

When it comes to campaigns, your messages should be direct, clear, and compelling. There’s more to BFCM then just those few days. To ensure you’re making the most of this time, we recommend planning everything from pre-BFCM to the days and weeks following.

Pre-BFCM: Let people know what to expect on the holidays

The best way to make sure your emails drive purchases on BFCM is to make sure you give your list plenty of heads up on what they can expect during the weekend. With so many different vendors offering great deals, many shoppers like to map out or plan in advance what items they’ll purchase ahead of time.

If you send targeted campaigns to your different segments before BFCM, you’ll have a much better likelihood of converting on BFCM.

During BFCM: Be blunt

Clarity and directness are your best friends during the throws of BFCM. One easy way to do this is with crystal clear subject lines that let subscribers know exactly what’s inside. A subject like like, “40% off all women’s shoes” is a surefire way to make sure those looking for shoes open your email.

It’s also a good idea to keep your content and offers fresh with separate deals for Black Friday & Cyber Monday and create campaigns for specific segments.

Post BFCM: Plan content for those who didn’t purchase

You may want to pause some of your flows during BFCM, or turn off smart sending, and replace them with custom flows for BFCM shoppers, including:

Back in Stock flows for Black Friday shoppers. Consider offering shoppers a special incentive if you run out that day to get them to purchase later on.

Post-purchase. Send BFCM shoppers a timely follow up with a gift guide or other content to help them with their holiday shopping. You could also send them to those with didn’t purchase.

The best content is the most strategic

While the appeal of batch and blasting a lot of email on BFCM might seem like the best way to reach everyone on your list, segmenting and tailoring your content gives you a higher likelihood of capturing the attention of the right shoppers during the busiest time of the year.

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Alicia Thomas

Alicia Thomas is the senior marketing manager at Klaviyo. Alicia is a veteran of the marketing analytics space, and her award-winning work has been featured on sites like A Better Lemonade Stand, TechCrunch, Performance Marketer, and Shopify Plus.